I picked these 2 examples up this past weekend. This is the hard times token. This is apparently an English token.
Where did you find this? I love the message as well as the year!!! Almost a quarter century prior to the war. What's it's history? Where were the coins struck? I know... sorry about all the questions. // BUd
Very nice. Those kneeling images and inscriptions were created by Elizabeth Margaret Chandler, and became very popular with abolitionists. Unfortunately, Chandler died in 1834 at the age of 27, long before she could see her dream realized.
The kneeling woman token was commissioned in 1837 by the American Anti-Slavery Society located at 143 Nassau St. in New York City. The firm of Gibbs, Gardner & Co. of Belleville, NJ was chosen to design and strike the pieces. They were offered for sale in the November 23, 1837 issue of The Emancipator, the weekly newspaper of the Society. The price was $1 for a hundred tokens. Since they were struck in copper they circulated as small change during the Hard Times period. Interestingly, a kneeling man token was also planned but never progressed beyond a small number of pattern pieces. They were never struck for circulation so are extremely rare and very pricey. Only three or four examples are known today. The English pieces with the clasped hands were actually struck sometime in the 1790s and are fairly common but still bring decent money when offered for sale. Bruce
Thanks Bruce, all the knowledge I can gain about stuff like this is exciting. I think that's why I never get tired of coins and the coin biz. Well almost never. grin // some days are better than others. I love the coins... thanks for sharing // BUd
That's a very nice example. As BRandM said, this piece was struck in Belleville NJ, with dies engraved by John Gibbs. I grew up in Belleville and have recently started studying and collecting the issues struck there. This is one I still need!
The English pieces are listed as Conder tokens and are cataloged under Middlesex. There are three different die pair combinations D&H 1037, 1038, and 1039. (two different obv, and three reverses) They also come in nineteen different edge varieties. All of the basic die pairings are common but some of the edge varieties are very rare. But because of their popularity even the common ones will bring a good price. Yours is 1039 and if you can tell me what is on the edge I can give you the exact catalog number and rarity rating.
OK that makes it 1039a, probably the most common version of that token. This is actually a pretty nice example of this token. It has the strike weakness typically seen (the lack of details on the slave is mostly due to strike and not wear.) but the surfaces are about average to a little above. It's probably an XF or better token.
